Feature | Why I Began Donating to NOLS

The Campaign for NOLS

Immediate Support

Sustainability

Campus Improvements

Donors Gifts States

(and D.C., too!) Countries Scholarships Awarded

from gifts and endowment proceeds, totaling $6,320,000

New Endowed Scholarships

that fund student tuition in perpetuity

(September 2016 - December 2020)

Cabins at the Wyss Campus

The campaign funded eight cabins for student lodging. This comfortable, energy-efficient, and attractive housing allows us to teach 32 more wilderness medicine students each year.

EXPOSE Why I Began Donating to NOLS Immediately After My Course

By Skander Spies NOLS Semester in Alaska Grad

Statistics illustrate the success of Step Forward: The Campaign for NOLS, above, while alumni Skander Spies’ story explains his commitment to philanthropic gifts to the school. Illustration by Kacie DeKleine, photo by Will Covey Just over five years ago, NOLS mapped out a bold objective: to raise $30 million by Dec. 31, 2020. Thanks to the generosity of thousands of donors in that half decade, including Skander Spies, whose story is below, we reached that goal. In fact, we exceeded the goal, reaching $31 million within the designated timeline, and in spite of the monumental financial challenges of 2020. Skander explains why lessons learned at NOLS means so much to him that he has donated to NOLS for a decade.

Despite solid parenting and a generous community, I grew up with a fierce scarcity mindset. When I got to my NOLS semester in 2007, that meant I was always quick to ration food, negotiate the best side of the tent, or find a way to keep my puffy jacket dry. Living outside though, there is plenty of adversity, and only a little certainty. It started raining the third day of my course and my instructor said, “this is the regular weather here.” My instructors and teammates modeled doing selfless work and “eating your best food first.” Eventually, I learned that

Unrestricted annual giving

provided a pandemic lifeline.

“La Sede”: The Patagonia Classroom

A weatherproof community structure for classes, gatherings, and wilderness medicine courses. “While I could save every last dollar for a rainy day, investing in philanthropy reduces the likelihood of those rainy days, and I’m confident that I can weather the uncertainty and adversity of different financial constraints.”

being comfortable with adversity and uncertainty gave me more power than any ration plan or raincoat—the scarcity mindset cracked. All kinds of things on our course didn’t go according to plan, but we figured it out anyway and had an amazing experience doing it. Everything dries, you can stretch a packet of ramen noodles a long way, and being generous is contagious.

Fourteen years later, the world needs those same qualities of generosity, flexibility, and self-assurance. In my work as an engineer, I get to solve problems that impact energy use, carbon footprint, and the financial viability of large commercial buildings. Certainty is rare and adversity is a given, but those challenges both keep the work interesting and provide the biggest opportunity for innovation. Similarly, in philanthropy there are always unknowns—if the cause you donate to will have its intended impact, or whether my dollars could be better used supporting my own family directly.

I’m not certain I’ll always have a great job or as few other financial commitments. While I could save every last dollar for a rainy day, investing in philanthropy reduces the likelihood of those rainy days, and I’m confident that I can weather the uncertainty and adversity of different financial constraints.

I wasn’t surprised to read about the contraction in NOLS’ activities in response to COVID-19, but I was gutted. Seeing the pandemic and ensuing response reinforced my belief that we need the kind of thoughtful, compassionate leaders who have opinions forged by real experience and thoughtful deliberation of the honest facts. Those leaders are hard to come by, but the NOLS curriculum lays a strong foundation.

In a crisis, it’s tempting to give every available dollar towards more immediate local needs, but that approach fails to appropriately value future leadership. It gives me hope to know that I started supporting other leaders 10 years ago because they are starting to show up. If I want great leaders for a pandemic in 2031, then now is the time to invest in training them.

Skander Spies, a 2007 Semester in Alaska grad, is a mechanical engineer who designs heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, presenting an opportunity to reduce energy in buildings, a major driver of global climate change.